Description: A NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS' CHOICE - AN NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR - A LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD FINALIST - A TIME MUST-READ BOOK OF THE YEAR - A KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR
"A heartfelt portrait of a complex family." --People - "Laugh-out-loud-funny." --Harper's Bazaar - "Quintessential rom-com meets the delicious family sprawl of a Russian classic." --Vanity Fair The "brilliant" (Daily Mail, London) bestseller that follows a brother and sister as they navigate queer love, multiracial identity, and family drama, all while flailing their way to love--for fans of Schitt's Creek and Sally Rooney's Normal People. It's been a year since his ex-boyfriend dumped him and moved from Auckland to Buenos Aires, and Valdin is doing fine. He has a good flat with his sister Greta, a good career where his colleagues only occasionally remind him that he is the sole Maaori person in the office, and a good friend who he only sleeps with when he's sad. But when work sends him to Argentina and he's thrown back in his former lover's orbit, Valdin is forced to confront the feelings he's been trying to ignore--and the future he wants. Greta is not letting her painfully unrequited crush (or her possibly pointless master's thesis, or her pathetic academic salary...) get her down. She would love to focus on the charming fellow grad student she meets at a party and her friendships with a circle of similarly floundering twenty-somethings, but her chaotic family life won't stop intruding: her mother is keeping secrets, her nephew is having a gay crisis, and her brother has suddenly flown to South America without a word. Filled with "kernels of humor and truth" (Elle) and with an undeniable emotional momentum that builds to an exuberant conclusion, Greta & Valdin careens us through the siblings' misadventures and the messy dramas of their sprawling, eccentric Maaori-Russian-Catalonian family in Auckland. An acclaimed bestseller in New Zealand, Greta & Valdin is fresh, joyful, and alive with the possibility of love in its many mystifying forms.Brief description: Natalie Beran is a voice-over artist, actor, and international radio announcer/producer with a radio career spanning over fifteen years. Her voice has been featured in commercials for iHeart Radio, NZ Lotto, Les Mills, McDonald's, and Southern Comfort. She has narrated many audiobooks, including Menticide: The Awakening, Small Acts of Kindness, Tears Are Only Water, Pet, and Paper Cage, to name a few. She has voiced for video games including Warhammer 40K: Darktide, Sherlock Holmes, Robocop: Rogue City, and Blasphemous II, plus game titles soon to be released. She plays series regular Katherine Hillard in Power Rangers: The Audio Drama, along with narrating Haunting of Selene and Easthaven Eight. Her animation work includes Milo the Mechanic and Homebird, along with various ADR and film projects. Natalie is a graduate of the AMDA NY, a Globe International Actors fellow, BAFTA member, and SOVAS Voice Arts Award nominee.
Review Quotes:
"The laughs start early and go strong throughout this winsome story."
-- "San Francisco Chronicle"